Weekend Reading: Free Gift Card Edition

We partner with a comparison site called creditcardGenius to share the best rewards cards in Canada and keep you informed of the latest promotions and sign-up bonuses. I prefer it over other comparison sites because creditcardGenius offers an objective, math-based scoring system that sorts through 189 Canadian credit cards and recommends the best rewards card for your personal situation.

Free Gift Card Promo

I’m excited about their new promotion, which gives applicants the opportunity to earn $150 in Amazon e-Gift Cards when they sign up and get approved for the Scotiabank Gold American Express Card. This is one of the top travel rewards credit cards in Canada and pays 4x points on spending categories such as groceries, gas, dining, and entertainment (the most bonus spending categories of any Canadian credit card).

You’ll also get 15,000 in Scotia Rewards points when you spend $1,000 within the first three months. Those points are worth $150 in travel. The card comes with a $99 annual fee, which is lower than most premium travel rewards credit cards.

When you combine the early spend bonus with the $150 in Amazon e-Cards, and subtract the annual fee, that’s a net gain of $201. Now add in the opportunity to earn 4x points in those bonus spending categories and there’s potential to earn hundreds of dollars in rewards in a year.

Okay, you’ve heard enough. Here’s how to get the deal:

Visit creditcardGenius and click on ‘Get This Deal’. Then share the deal on Facebook to unlock the first $50 Amazon e-Gift Card. Upon approval you’ll receive a $100 Amazon e-Gift Card. Spend $1,000 in the first three months and you’ll receive 15,000 in Scotia Rewards points. It’s that simple.

Act quickly because this deal expires on October 31st, 2018.

This Week’s Recap:

Next week we’ll have a guest post from Dale Roberts who shares some year-end tax planning for mutual fund, ETF, and individual stock investors. Plus, I’ll cover a very interesting investment opportunity that could be good for the planet and your portfolio.

Weekend Reading:

The Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.75 percent. It’s the fifth increase since last July and the rate hikes are starting to put noticeable pressure on variable interest loans such as mortgages (mine!) and lines of credit.

Next year we could see a welcome government increase – in the form of higher TFSA contribution limits. The limit is expected to increase to $6,000 in 2019.

Should you incorporate a business to save on taxes? We did, but only because we could stream dividends to my stay-at-home wife. Jason Heath explains why incorporating only makes sense if you can justify the initial and ongoing costs, and don’t need all the income for personal needs.

2 Comments

Dave Alderson
on October 27, 2018 at 11:34 pm

Hi Robb, My wife and I have held the (expensive) Aeroplan cards (now with TD) and our intention was to move towards a cash back “no cost” card. We are now retired (for 2 years) and trying to manage our transition to a dramatically lower income.

We have decent retirement savings (mostly registered) but wonder about whether we would now qualify for new credit cards since we now have a much lower annual income?

For example if I go to the TD site they suggest an annual income of $60k to have the card we presently use, which is more than our planned target income for the next two years.

Will we have problems shopping for a new card with our lower incomes? Should we just hold onto our present cards?